Hopes for Canton referendum quashed as not enough people turn up for meeting

Residents of the Cardiff district are objecting to new Bus Rapid Transit routes, one-way traffic and restricted parking

Canton residents listen to speakers during a public meeting held at Fitzalan High School about the Local Development Plan for Cardiff

Hopes of a referendum on Cardiff’s Local Development Plan could have been quashed in Canton tonight after turnout to a meeting to force one was too low.

Angry locals objecting to new Bus Rapid Transit routes, one-way traffic and restricted parking congregated for a “trigger meeting” to try and get a U-turn from council chiefs.

Around 85 voters arrived at Fitzalan High School in Leckwith to discuss the LDP’s impact on Canton.

But despite hopes their voices could lead to a referendum on the matter, they were told 150 people were needed to have enabled a binding vote for one.

Instead an informal debate on how the West Cardiff district could be hit by the Labour Council’s proposals under the LDP was held.

Home and business owners attacked what they said was a lack of transparency over how they would be affected under the LDP.

Plaid Cymru candidate Elin Tudur told the meeting there was concern over the number of homes set to be built under the plans for Cardiff set to be brought in over the next 13 years.

She said: “Plans have been a cause of considerable controversy in Wales due to the high number of houses contained within them.”

She warned the environment would be harmed as more and more natural spaces were concreted over, and Welsh-speaking communities would be damaged by an influx of new families settling across Wales.

In Cardiff, she said people were worried about homes being built on greenbelt land on the outskirts of the city, with plans for commuters to be bussed into the centre.

In Canton concerns were centred around Cowbridge Road East, identified as a “key destination as a district shopping centre” in Cardiff Council’s infrastructure study.

Despite its importance being recognised, the meeting heard from business owners who said their trade would be wiped out by a Bus Rapid Transport route that could be routed through the road and into the city centre.

Ms Tudur also said pressure from traffic in West Canton was already “immense”, and that the only outcome would be more if the LDP went ahead in its current guise.

She added: “We have been accused of scaremongering. What we have been doing, in fact, is flagging up some serious concerns.”

Canton Councillor and cabinet member for transport Ramesh Patel was widely criticised for not attending the session, with his absence put down to other engagements.

Coun Richard Cook was on a holiday arranged before the meeting date was set, they were told, and Coun Susan Elsmore was visiting a relative in hospital.

Canton Labour secretary Brian Drew spoke on behalf of the absent councillors, and slammed the “misinformation” he said had surrounded the campaign against the LDP by Plaid Cymru.

He said: “We think they are scaremongering.

“We think these are tactics that are not unconnected with the fact that a certain party are looking forward to a general election next year.”

Canton businessman Tim Fowler, whose family have run the Canton Cobbler shoe repair shop on Cowbridge Road East for the past 35 years, said he was worried about his future under the LDP.

He said: “Passing trade would be non-existent. Private and public transportation will increase, but so will average vehicle speeds, taking our customers away.

“People will be directed towards the city centre, where they can afford the higher business rates.

“At the moment it’s still a great place to start a business.”

Mr Fowler, 29, said Canton was one of three or four business districts outside the city centre that could be harmed unless serious consideration was given to the effect of public transport changes.

The meeting closed with an overwhelming vote in favour of a movement calling for “more meaningful local consultation with stakeholders and residents on the proposal within the LDP for the Bus Rapid Transport system along Cowbridge Road East before the LDP is approved.”

Neil McEvoy, Plaid Cymru’s Cardiff Group Leader, told the Echo the failure to get 150 voters to the meeting and ensure a binding vote would not be a set-back, and campaigners would arrange another meeting to try and secure a referendum for Canton.

He said there had been a short space of time in which to organise the meeting just days after

last week’s local council and European elections, and the poor turnout

had been down to bad timing.

He said: “If 85 people bring a friend then we have got a referendum.”

And he said accusations of scaremongering were being levelled at Plaid Cymru by a Labour council who was trying to pull the wool over voters’ eyes, denying changes would affect them.

The Canton meeting followed a referendum vote held in Fairwater, where 98% of the 1,342 people who turned out voted against the LDP.

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